> 
> Firstly, size: One of sysinstall's requirements is that it fit (along
> with a variety of other related commands) onto a floppy disk.  Last
> time I checked, the /stand bundle (sysinstall + friends) was ~640K.
> The smallest X-server (XF86_VGA16) is 1.7MB (plus libraries).  I don't
> have either Qt or Lesstif installed, but from previous dealings with
> Motif, it's several times the size of the Xserver.  Unless we want to
> mandate the use of ZIP drives (or similar) as FreeBSD install
> floppies, we're limited to a syscons (or VTxxx) sysinstall.

This manages to overlook the fact that the installer has to have a feed 
to a much larger source of data in order to actually perform the 
installation.

> The second problem is that X11 needs a fair amount of configuration
> before it will work.  Whilst the VGA16 server forms a convenient
> lowest-common-denominator position, it offers no real advantages over
> a character-mode installation (same screen resolution and number of
> colours) and significantly poorer performance.

You're welcome to look at the technology demonstrators currently in use 
by RedHat and Caldera if you think that this is impossible.

> Given the primary mission of sysinstall is to load FreeBSD, I'd
> go so far as to say that developing an X version would be wasting
> valuable developer resources (IMHO, of course).

It's a painful tradeoff between functionality and flash.  The latter is 
an unfortunate necessity if we are to avoid looking hopelessly outdated.

-- 
\\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\  Mike Smith
\\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself,  \\  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
\\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime.             \\  [EMAIL PROTECTED]




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